diff --git a/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts b/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts
index 808cb367a..037f3958e 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ import { Merge } from '../../util'
 import { analytics } from '../../utils/analytics'
 import { isSiteBlockedForParse } from '../../utils/blocked'
 import { enqueueBulkAction } from '../../utils/createTask'
-import { authorized } from '../../utils/gql-utils'
+import { authorized, isFieldInSelectionSet } from '../../utils/gql-utils'
 import {
   cleanUrl,
   errorHandler,
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ export const searchResolver = authorized<
   >,
   SearchError,
   QuerySearchArgs
->(async (_obj, params, { uid }) => {
+>(async (_obj, params, { uid }, info) => {
   const startCursor = params.after || ''
   const first = Math.min(params.first || 10, 100) // limit to 100 items
 
@@ -605,9 +605,14 @@ export const searchResolver = authorized<
     return { errorCodes: [SearchErrorCode.QueryTooLong] }
   }
 
+  const selectionSet = info.fieldNodes[0].selectionSet
+  const isContentRequested = selectionSet
+    ? isFieldInSelectionSet(selectionSet, 'content')
+    : false
+
   const searchLibraryItemArgs = {
     includePending: true,
-    includeContent: params.includeContent ?? true, // by default include content for offline use for now
+    includeContent: params.includeContent || isContentRequested,
     includeDeleted: params.query?.includes('in:trash'),
     query: params.query,
     useFolders: params.query?.includes('use:folders'),
diff --git a/packages/api/src/resolvers/function_resolvers.ts b/packages/api/src/resolvers/function_resolvers.ts
index d3cd06b1a..d042b7811 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/resolvers/function_resolvers.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/resolvers/function_resolvers.ts
@@ -577,6 +577,7 @@ export const functionResolvers = {
     pageType: (item: LibraryItem) => item.itemType,
     highlightsCount: (item: LibraryItem) => item.highlightAnnotations?.length,
     ...readingProgressHandlers,
+    content: (item: LibraryItem) => item.readableContent,
   },
   PageInfo: {
     async totalCount(
diff --git a/packages/api/src/utils/gql-utils.ts b/packages/api/src/utils/gql-utils.ts
index 62bbf2d09..3efed41d5 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/utils/gql-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/utils/gql-utils.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { SelectionSetNode } from 'graphql'
 import { ResolverFn } from '../generated/graphql'
 import { Claims, ResolverContext } from '../resolvers/types'
 
@@ -24,3 +25,26 @@ export function authorized<
     return { errorCodes: ['UNAUTHORIZED'] } as TError
   }
 }
+
+export const isFieldInSelectionSet = (
+  selectionSet: SelectionSetNode,
+  fieldName: string
+) => {
+  // recursively check if the field is in the selection set
+  for (const selection of selectionSet.selections) {
+    if (selection.kind === 'Field' && selection.name.value === fieldName) {
+      return true
+    }
+
+    if (
+      (selection.kind === 'InlineFragment' || selection.kind === 'Field') &&
+      selection.selectionSet
+    ) {
+      if (isFieldInSelectionSet(selection.selectionSet, fieldName)) {
+        return true
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return false
+}